A THUG faces a total ban from the York estate he has terrorised for years after a jury convicted him of threatening police with a pickaxe.

The entire police nightshift, complete with riot shields, was called up to storm the Chapelfields Road family home of Lee Powell, 19, where he had taken refuge during a night of violence and unrest on the Chapelfields estate in May, York Crown Court heard. His actions were the latest in a series of crimes by the teenager that began when he was 13. Many of them were committed on the estate.

Now, following his conviction for affray, Judge Scott Wolstenholme is planning to jail him and make an antisocial behaviour order which could ban him entirely from the estate and all of nearby Beckfield Lane.

"I am conscious that the residents on the estate where he has been living would welcome a release from his attentions," said the judge.

Powell's brother, David, 20, also faces being banned from the Chapelfields estate, although the jury acquitted him of threatening police with a garden spade.

Following the verdict, prosecution barrister Nicholas Worsley revealed that the local authorities will ask York magistrates in a civil case to make an anti-social behaviour order against him.

During the trial, jurors heard that he had previous convictions for public order offences.

Both Powells, who were living at their father's house in Chapelfields Road at the time of the pickaxe incident, had denied unlawful violence.

Lee Powell will be sentenced on December 13 after probation officers prepare a report on him. He is currently serving a ten-month prison sentence for thefts and violence committed while on bail for the pickaxe offence.

His barrister, Dan Cordey, said the Powells' father had put the home up for sale in an attempt to move out of the area. He objected to any order that would prevent Lee Powell from visiting his father.

During the trial, the jury heard that a Chapelfields resident tried to help police by rugby-tackling Lee Powell as he fled from officers investigating an incident involving a Ford Fiesta. David Powell and others helped the 19-year-old escape.

Lee Powell then fetched a pickaxe from his home and charged out at the resident and two officers until he was driven back by CS gas and batons.

Updated: 11:00 Friday, November 19, 2004